Throughout the automotive industry, safety systems have become standard equipment on all automobiles. Two typical safety systems include the airbag deployment system and the collapsible steering column system. Both systems act to absorb the energy of a collision to thereby protect the occupants of the vehicle. The airbag system accomplishes this by deploying an airbag which then collapses as the driver or other occupant strikes the airbag. The airbag absorbs impact energy as it collapses and deflates. The collapsible steering column absorbs energy by collapsing, or “stroking”, such that it absorbs the energy of the impact as it strokes.
Typically, these safety systems have a set level of energy that they are capable of absorbing. Specifically, the airbag deploys with a predetermined pressure and force under all impact events, and the steering column strokes under a given impact force and absorbs a set amount of energy during the stroke. These devices as an integrated system are not tunable to specific vehicle and driver conditions in a “real time” impact event. For example, a larger, heavier occupant requires a different level of energy absorption in a given collision than a smaller, lighter occupant. Traditional airbag and steering column systems are not tunable in real time.